the flint river. at the time officials celebrated the switch. soon after there were problems of discolored water and eventually news of lead. a year and a half later flint switched back to detroit water. >> well, the kindest thing you could possibly say is that they were complete incompetent, sloppy, lazy and uncaring. >> mark edwards is an environmental engineer who specializes in water treatment. his team has independently tested water samples at hundreds of homes throughout the city. >> when we first got results we just didn't believe it. it was hazardous waste levels of leed coming out of this person's attach, two and a half times hazardous waste in her tap. >> it turns out flint water was so corrosive that it started to eat away at people's pipes causing lead from some of those pipes to leech into the drunking water. what is it about the flint river that makes it so corrosive? >> well, there's high color i'd in it so it's perfectly fine for fish, it's fine to ca canoe in t the salt in the water w

i grew up in flint. i raised my children in flint. when we leave here at the end of every week, i fly home to flint. i'm a son of this town. so it breaks my heart to see what's happening and it breaks my heart not just because of what has been inflicted upon the people of flint, but because it was an entirely avoidable set of circumstances. better action by people in government could have protected the people of flint and those players failed. and i appreciate the outrage that members of congress, my colleagues, have expressed and that outrage has come from both sides of the ail, but my hope is that that outrage translates into something more than just sharing the misery of the people of flint or sympathy for the people of flint, but we need to provide help for the folks in flint. flint is a strong community. we have been through really tough times, and we will get through this, too, but we have to have resources from the people who did this to flint in order to create a path forward for the people and especially for the children of m

flint. he is the former emergency manager for flint, michigan. he was appoint the position in 2013 and tasked with overseeing flint's finances. mr. early left his position in january of 2015 flint city council voted 7-1 to make the transition from detroit city water. the committee sent -- he's vital to understanding what happened and how these decisions were made. committee sent mr. early an invite letter last week. he knew this was happening and he knew he was invited to appear as a witness before the committee. most of the people that appear before the committee, they do not -- we do not need to compel them to attend. participation, though, before in committee, is not optional. when you get invited to come to the oversight and government reform committee, you are going to show up. we were told at i believe 7:50 p.m. on monday night that he would not attend. on tuesday i issued a subpoena. normally these are done electronically with the counsel of record. his attorney refused service. we're

flint is my home. the people i represent are the people i grew up with in flint, michigan. it's a great community. it's been through some struggles for sure the last few decades, but we've never dealt with anything quite like this, something so fundamental as safe drinking water that we take for granted. turn on the faucet, as mr. upton said, you expect the water that comes out of that faucet to be safe for yourself, for your children, to make formula, to cook food, to drink. and because of a series of decisions that really are almost incomprehensible in their impact, people in flint, michigan, can't drink their water. 100,000 people can't drink the water. the thing that makes me most upset, sad, yes, but also angry is that this crisis, this situation which will last for decades on its impact was completely avoidable. unlike a lot of the other struggles that my hometown has faced as a result of big changes in the economy, development patterns, etc., this was a series of decisions that we could easily identify that could easily have been prevented with just more thought and

flint. we'll show the entire hearing tonight at 8:00 but right now here is congressman kilby's testimony to the committeement it begins with opening statements. >> under the rules of the house and committee to maintain order and preserve decorum, we appreciate your participation here today but i remind everybody that this is a congressional hearing. and there is a certain decorum that we would appreciate everybody's participation in. i believe there's people in the overflow room and what not. we're glad to do this and have everybody here today. prior to opening statements, i want to address some people who probably should be here that were invited to be here and others that members on both sides wanted to be hear. we have two panels today, i think this will be a good first step moving forward. some people have wanted the governor to be here, some people have wanted the epa administrator to be here. we're going to have this hearing today. we have documents that will be provided by by the epa

we're in flint, michigan. it is sunset at the flint water plant.'m standing of one of the flint water tower just down the road is the gm engine plant. it was october of 2014 that gm recognized that the flint water was corroding its engines. they got permission from the unelected emergency manager of flint to disconnect from the flint river and go back to the detroit water. it would be another year before the people of flint were finally allowed to disconnect from the corrosive flint river as their water supply, and hook up again with the detroit water. where going to go talk to a gm worker who works at the plant and worked there at the time that gm recognized in the state acknowledged that they could no longer use flint water because it was destroying the engine. >> my name is ronald jamison. amy: how long have you worked at the flint engine plant? >> 39 years, going on 40 this year. amy: you were working there when flint poked up with the -- hooked up with the water and was disconnected. >> yes. amy: what happened? >> from what i hear, it was basi

in flint. this is the governor of michigan at fall. his amused agency managers and i was saddened to hear that mike coley from florida say out loud and talk about the seven-one boat. they voted seven - one not to switch to flint river, they voted voted seven-one is something completely different. it's a reprehensible attempt to achieve what dan kildee calls the equivalency of blame and something that criminal defendants always do when they get caught red-handed. i want to talk about what the state did and made a decision not to use the flint river and then it reversed that decision, am i correct in that? >> i was not party to the decision. >> you are not there. according to press results in one of the emergency managers for flank, mr. mr. jerry ambrose, is he here today? can anybody tell me why jerry ambrose is not here today? can anybody tell me why the governor of michigan is not here today? because he is hiding. that's what's happening. an breast testified in a sworn deposition that in 2012

flint is my hometown. i raise my children in flint. when we leave here at the end of every week, i fly home to flint. i am a son of this town. it breaks my heart to see what is happening. it breaks my heart not just because of what has been inflicted upon the people of flint, but because it was an entirely avoidable set of circumstances. better action by people in government could have protected the people of flint. and those players failed. and i appreciate the outrage that members of congress have expressed. that a great has come from the -- that outrage has come from both sides my hope is that that outrage. translates into something more than just sharing the misery of the people of flint, or empathy. we need to provide help for the folks in flint. filint is a strong community. we have been through really tough time. we will get through this. we have to have resources from the people who did this to rep. chaffetz: in order to have a path forward. especially for the children of my hometown. -- did this to flint in order to have a pat

of flint.nd she is actually engaged in the children's fund of new york to ask them to go and help flint. she came with resources. and this -- that's why i want her to be my president. i don't want someone that does not understand the needs of the people in america, especially when it comes to those with the smallest voice because they're not rich and powerful. they are people who normally are minorities that people don't hear. i want her to protect everyone from wall street to the homeless person on the street, and hillary clinton i see a person that has the ability to do that and the desire and passion. >> all right. michael moore who has endorsed bernie sanders, he's been very vocal about what happened in flint, michigan. he tweets out, "this is a racial killing. flint, michigan, is 60% black. when you knowingly poison a black city, you are committing a version of genocide." we'll go to randy in iowa. a democrat. hi, randy. >> caller: hi, greta. my head is just spinning because this is such a

when flint switched its water source from the great lakes to the polluted flint river in 2014, residents first experienced bacteria and chemicals in their drinking water, and later discovered lead. now, that tainted water is being blamed for yet another public health crisis. >> we didn't have the flint water, and i just didn't expect it ever to be that bad. i thought it was something they could probably fix right away. >> but when her husband passed away over the summer, terry suspected it was his contact with flint water that led to his sudden death. >> i had to call 911. he couldn't move. he couldn't stand up. >> terry believes her husband was exposed to contaminated water while he was receiving cancer treatment at a flint hospital. duane was undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer but terry thought he would have more time. >> i'd just like to tell him i'm doing okay. i tell him that all the time now, i'm doing all right and the kids are okay. >> according to the death certificate, legio legion naires disease was the cause. >> the only place he had contact with flint water, it turned m

in flint. it's going on in d.c. it's go iing on in durham, we heard testimony today. it needs to stop and we need to make certain the system works, right, mr. edwards? >> that's correct. >> right? >> yes, sir. >> and you're new on the block. >> yes, sir. >> thank you, citizen-hero, we appreciate what you did. >> thank you. audience is reminded to -- to hold their applause, please. we'll now recognize the gentleman from virginia, mr. connelly, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we ought to be clear about flint. arguably one of the worst municipal environmental tragedies in the modern era in the united states. and it was manmade. and it is the consequence actually of implementing a political philosophy of social darwinism, of smaller governm t government, of rabid anti-regulation, of attack after attack after attack on the epa because our financiers don't like it. let's be very clear how flint happened. it did not happen by accident. and it wasn't a 7-1vote to switch the source of wate

we are all flint. we are all flint.nd the facts will speak for themselves as you talk about how the flint water is contaminated because its pipes are permanently damaged. i understand that replacing flint's corroded water infrastructure will cost anywhere from $700 million to $1.5 billion. approximately 500 miles of old iron pipe and thousands of lead service lines. it is an untold, it is a big cost. but i want to speak about the children. i want to speak about the people. my gosh, what are you going through? i don't know how you could run a family. well, you can't run a family on bottled water. you can't run a business on bottled water. you can't run a city on bottled water. i don't know how you wash. i don't know how you take care of your children. i wouldn't go anywhere in flint unless i personally prepared my food or washed my clothes or saw what i was doing. i would be scared to death. and i bet those parents are, too. and what are they aflayed of? we need to get there. now, i want to talk about the children. and t

when did flint move the water supply to the flint river, mr. creagh? >> i believe that was moved in april of 2014. >> okay. >> but i'll check that with the timeline here for accuracy, sir. >> does that generally comport with what everybody understands? >> yes. >> is it your understanding they did not use the phosphate or other similar treatment from the very beginning? dr. edwards, let me ask you the question. if i start pulling the water out of the flint river and put it through these particular pipes how long will it take before the water has an impact on the quality of the drinking water that people are drinking? is it immediate? does it take a couple months for it to break down the lining on the pipes? how long does it take? >> it takes a period of weeks to about a month and that's when the first consumer complaints started arising about red water which is iron rust falling into the water. >> give or take. now at may in 2014. 11 months from the epa knowing about it, here we are may of 2014. i think you said it was the city's responsibility to certi

flint is my home. the people i represent are the people i grew up with in flint, michigan. it's a great community. it's been through some struggles for sure the last few decades, but we've never dealt with anything quite like this, something so fundamental as safe drinking water that we take for granted. turn on the faucet, as mr. upton said, you expect the water that comes out of that faucet to be safe for yourself, for your children, to make formula, to cook food, to drink. and because of a series of decisions that really are almost incomprehensible in their impact, people in flint, michigan, can't drink their water. 100,000 people can't drink the water. the thing that makes me most upset, sad, yes, but also angry is that this crisis, this situation which will last for decades on its impact was completely avoidable. unlike a lot of the other struggles that my hometown has faced as a result of big changes in the economy, development patterns, etc., this was a series of decisions that we could easily identify that could easily have been prevented with just more thought and

in flint. and the residents of flint. there's no two ways about it. that's the headline here. but you know -- criminals, when they get caught red-handed? you know what they start to do right away? they start to try to spread the blame. others, there's plenty of blame to go around, i heard. there's plenty of blame to go around. so let's just put aside the fact that the governor of michigan got caught red-handed poisoning his citizens. let's forget about that. let's also try to blame the michigan -- the flint local officials. you know, representative kildee from flint got up here and testified and made a very press yents point that there's an attempt to appoint an equivalency of blame. they're spreading the blame out and any time somebody says something about a 7-1 vote in flint -- that's exactly what dan kildee is talking about. is people trying to put the blame on the local officials in flint, blame that has no place in local officials in flint. this is the governor of michigan at fault. his em

flint's water source to the long-polluted flint river in a bid to save money. over a year, flint residents complained about the quality of the water, but their cries were ignored. early last year, and maybe earlier, the government knew of tests showing alarming levels of lead in the water, but officials told residents there was no threat. flint resident lee anne walters was one of the first to sound the alarm about lead contamination in the water. she testified at wednesday's hearing. >> i started doing independent testing with virginia tech and 30 test were done, test performed in accordance to the lcr. my average was 2500 parts per billion. my heist was 13,500 parts per billion. hazardous waste is 5000. regardless of this information, and the fact that my son had left was then, the city still continue to tell everyone the water was safe as the epa sat by and watched in silence. amy: the epa silence was not for lack of effort at least on the , part of one official. epa employee miguel del toral, alarmed by the amount of lead he found in lee anne walters' water

jessica: flint mayor karen weaver, just three months into a brand-new career. happened here in flint, nobody deserves. jessica: a cost saving measure put high levels of lead contamination into water pipes, exposing tens of thousands of people, among them 9000 children. mayor weaver: this has been a breakdown in government. a breakdown in oversight. then it was a cover-up. jessica: while state and federal help has arrived, as well as private donations, the city is still suffering. mayor weaver: it is really sad. if somebody wanted to move, who will want to buy their house? the property value has plummeted. jessica: mayor weaver says the city needs more than bottled water and filtration systems. mayor weaver: we need service lines replaced. homes that have kids under six, pregnant women, homes identified or compromised immune systems, that' s a way to get started. the state has to step up and owned this, but this is bigger than the state as far as resources. jessica: while she is still outraged, she is also inspired. mayor weaver: there are parts of me when i drive through flint -- i am

the mothers of flint need you. the mothers of flint need you. the fathers of flint need you.he mothers and fathers of flint need you. if you are a mother and father anywhere you can be a mother or father in flint. let's organize ourselves in the most effective way to solve this problem and let's begin to deal with critical infrastructure so we begin to prevent this from happening in any other american city. mr. president, i yield the floor and ask unanimous consent my full statement be in the record. >> without objections. the majority leader. >> mr. president, the energy committee has worked hard over the past year to develop the broad bipartisan energy legislation that is before us. members in both parties focused on areas of common ground, worked across the aisle and developed legislation that ultimately earned the support of more than 80% of their colleagues republicans and democrats alike. here is what some of our accurateic -- democratic friends have to say about the act. the junior senator from new mexico said this bill is critical to protecting his state's treasured p

drinking water to the corrosive flint river. flint's former emergency manager darnell earley refused to testify at today's hearing despite a subpoena. ,on earley announced he was tuesday, resigning from his current position as emergency manager of the detroit public schools. we'll have more on the story after headlines. here in new york the family of , ramarley graham has held an all-night vigil outside the local justice department office to mark four years since the unarmed, african-american 18-year-old was fatally shot by police officer richard haste. on february 2, 2012, haste shot graham inside his home, in front of his grandmother and six-year-old brother. haste was initially indicted for manslaughter by a grand jury, but the case was dismissed over a prosecutors error. a new grand jury declined to indict him. since the shooting, haste has received nearly $25,00 in raises. graham's mother, constance malcolm, spoke outside the justice department. >> we really mean business. we want some answers. this office is the last place

but the children of flint, the people of flint, and frankly the people of porterville and everywhere else, need more than sympathy. we need investment. we need this congress and this country to step up and do what's right and invest in our own future, because if we don't, as you can tell, there are consequences. thank you for your leadership on this. mr. garamendi: mr. kildee, thank you so very much. for your work that you're doing . sounding the alarm and driving all of us. i know did you this morning in our caucus, you alerted us to it. you motivated us. and in fact, i'm talking about it tonight because of your motivation, that you gave to me and to my colleagues, to our colleagues this morning, you spoke here a little bit about the human consequenceses. and i'd like you to take nother run around this, on how we bear, the community of america and more specifically michigan, bear the esponsibility of caring for, addressing the human problem that now exists. mr. kildee: i thank you for that question. because that's really the core what have we're dealing with right now. we need a lot

need to fix flint.we need action now. this is the most important work we are ever called to do. to reach out in every way we can to lend that helping hand for every single person in flint. >> they need to fix flint. hillary clinton raising money for flintkids.org. flint really is not fixed. for all the attention including now all the high-profile political attention, flint isn't fixed. every week now the state is publishing test results from water samples in flint homes. it's not generic data. they post the specific addresses in flint associated about these samples. hundreds of homes are testing way above acceptable levels. the federal cutoff for action on lead is 15 parts per billion. just in the last week, one house in flint tested over 10,000 parts per billion. this past week. that's twice the level the epa considers to be toxic waste. that's 700 times the level that's supposed to set off alarm bells. the results keep showing up. they keep showing up, home after home after home with lead levels more

the first involves flint's mayor.cted last year, mayor karen weaver had almost no authority because the city had been taken over by the state. that's the whole emergency manager thing in michigan. flint had been under state control for years. newly elected mayor didn't have much power to do anything to try to get her city out of this lead poisoning disaster they were well into by that point. she decided she would fake it until she made it. she made this bold, arguably, outside her lane of authority and declared a city wide state of emergency. we don't know if she had the authority to do that and because she took that leap, that started a ball rolling in terms of accountability that resulted in michigan governor finally issuing an actual emergency declaration for flint and president obama signing a federal emergency declaration for flint and that's how you get the ahead of the epa in flint today promising to fix the water and be there until it's fixed. it started because mayor weaver made that bold move. in terms of go

in the longer term, we' ve got to try to get help for flint' s children. on top of that, we have to grapple with this manmade disaster to flint' s critical infrastructure, which was also permanently damaged by this, and probably had anywhere from $40 damage. ethical problem of how to resolve all of those problems, because there is no precedent. fernando: professor, thank you so much for joining me today. professor edwards: thank you. tells me he' public apology of governor rick snyder. edwards added that elected officials were misled by bureaucrats, calling it a failure of conscience that endangered the people of flint. >> next, why the president did something he' s never done before president obama: we' ve heard inexcusable political rhetoric against muslim americans >> the political fallout after his visit to a mosque. and, applaud, if you think the super bowl is a lot like politics. governor bush: please clap. in the middle of a time r when senior poverty is increasing. republicans and some democrats for cutting cost-of-living we said, "it will be over

flint is in trouble. it's not fixed. bottled water is not a fix in flint. it's necessary as long as people are still living in that town, but it's not a fix. the good news is that now we know what the fix is. it's both amazing and infuriating. check this out. flint's mayor, karen weaver announced she wants the lead pipes out. she wants this fixed. she wants the old lead pipes taken out and replaced with new safe pipes right away. mayor karen weaver announced her plan to swap out the pipes the same way they did this lansing. she wants to use the new technique that's way faster and way cheaper. you don't need to turn the entire city into an unusable construction zone. you can use this other way of doing it. two relatively small holes, four hours per job, four hours per house. faster and cheaper than anybody had thought it could be done before they saw the way they invented to do it in lansing. the mayor thinks they can start now. they will start at houses with high lead readings and houses with kids under the age of six or elderly people or women who are preg

y hometown is flint, michigan. we leave here at the end of every week i fly home to flint. this is a very proud community. it's the birthplace of general motors. it's where the u.a.w. workers sat down in 1936 to get the first u.a.w. contract to help build the middle class. the last few decades have been tough for my community. we've taken a lot of hits, a lot of poverty, high unemployment. but we've always been able to get back up again as a community because there are strong people in flint, michigan. but what's happened now in flint is because of careless actions by state officials who put dollars and cents ahead of the health of people, ahead of the health of 9,000 children. we can get back up again in flint, but we need a state response far more robust than what's been recommended by michigan's governor. and we need help from the federal government. these people are american citizens. the state won't act to make it right for the people of flint. we need our federal government to do everything in its power to help these people and help flint get back up again. with that,

headed from ames, iowa to flint, michigan. how the city with a water crisis is getting an assist from a cyclone star. the news at noon... starts now. news at noon front door open good afternoon, thanks for joining us. i'm megan reuther. iowa state basketball star monte morris took part in a big send off this morning to help people in flint michigan have clean drinking water. eleven semi-trailers of drinking water are headed to flint today thanks to iowa state's number eleven. the trucks took off around ten this morning from ames. morris grew up in flint, where lead pipes are contaminating the city's water supply, making it unusable for people there. hy-vee's c-e-o saw our interview with morris last week on how he stepped in. monte morris was there for today's send off. the trucks should arrive in flint tomorrow. today, health officials are talking about the next steps in flint's ongoing health challenges. u-s secretary of health and human services sylvia burwell will visit a flint health center that is providing lead testing a

let in the water, way beyond flint. ers a -- lead in the water, way blond flint. arsenic in the water. feecal contamination in the water. you name it. city after city. ancient systems. more than 100 years old. lead pipes which were put in the ground a century ago leeching lead into the food supply. that's america. what would it cost? about $348 billion just for the water systems. how can we pay for it? there's a way. oh, america, are you aware that we're into a new nuclear arms race? we are. in the next 25 years, $1 trillion of your tax money is going to be spent on a total rearmament of our nuclear weapons systems. intercontinental ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, , bmarines, stealth aircraft $1 trillion. and city after city in america limps along, poisoning its children with 100-year-old water systems. we got some choices to make here. what are we going to spend your tax money on? new nuclear bombs? or a new water pipe? choices. joining me tonight to discuss these sets of issues are some of my dear friends. paul tonko and i have been working on this infrastr

any city could be flint michiganany city could be flint michigan, reeling from a water cry sthais saw lead leach out of water faucets in thousands of homes. >> poor decisions made throughout the process. >> reporter: like possibly not testing for corrosion in the new water supply, which can become a real problem once it leaves the plant and hits your property line. >> houses that were constructed before 1986 have the potential if they have copper pipeif they have copper piping to have lead sauter. >> reporter: even then the city of lynchburg has a plan in place to make sure lead is stopped dead in its tracks. >> it involves adding a phosphate-based corrosion control product into the water before it leaves. >> reporter: on top of not being corrosive, mitchell says lynchburg has some of the >> we treat water to a level that is three times cleaner than aca.requires. we have been recognized by the state for how good our water is. >> reporter: put through a multiple filtration process and tested each month to make sure the ph and chlorine levels are right and to make sure it is safe for to

guest: if you really want to help flint, the money has to be directed to flint.p with their infrastructure, rebuilding the infrastructure. priorityd be a higher to me than just spreading it around to many different government agencies who, frankly, don't have the best interest of flint at heart. host: what you say that? guest: because they tend to not take lead in water seriously. they would prefer to spend that money on other things. a viewer who asks about the houses and why some have led types or others don't. what goes into that? what was the law in the city when the house was built? people don't realize that these lead pipes were put there not because of a choice the customer had but because it was the code of the city that said if you want to connect to the city water line at this time, you must use a lead pipe. at certain times, that was not the loss of you go way back in to be fromnded 1910-1950. after 1950, other types of pipes that connector how to the water were used. in terms of other homes in flint, virtually all of them have lead solder or lead in u

over --line is pure over flint michigan's water.n investigation was launched into the water crisis in flint, michigan. the republican chairman issuing subpoenas forcing depositions from two officials. house oversight and government reform committee jason chaffetz was particularly critical of darnell early, the emergency manager. a subpoena is being issued for the former administrator of the environmental protection agency's region five which oversees flint. republicans are accused of playing politics with public health by refusing to compel similar testimony from michigan governor rick snyder and officials he tapped to run flint. here is some more from the hearing. here is jason chaffetz questioning why the epa did not inform the public earlier after the workers were reporting high concentrations of lead in a flint home back in 2015. let's talk about the right thing to do. what is the number one thing you do if you are trying to warn citizens? that them know, what is the number one thing you should let them know? >> that is the righ

mainly in the northern neighborhoods of flint.ack to you. >>> another republican presidential contender is dropping out of the race for 2016. kentucky senator rand paul is suspending his campaign. he was the second republican to enter the race last april. paul placed fifth in the republican iowa caucuses on monday. he got 4.5% of the vote. >>> an international conference is underway today in uruguay to deal with the zika virus. concerns are growing over the zika virus here in the u.s. someone in texas has contracted the virus after having sex with an infected person. >> reporter: the vast majority of inflections have happened through mosquito bites. and health officials in texas have confirmed a case that was likely sexually transmitted. it was acquired from someone who recently went to venezuela. the newly infected person had not travelled there. >> if a person is traveling to one of those 26 countries that have been declared by the world health organization to be transmitting the disease, mostly in the caribbean and south americ

flint is my hometown. for me, this is an obligation as a member of congress to represent the people back home. this is personal. this is about the life and health of the people i grew up with. i go home to flint every weekend. i just hope that the people in flint will be -- have their faith restored. they have this really great need. host: our guest has been a member of the u.s. house of representatives. his name is dan kildee. an hour and a half left. a couple of more desperate congressman ted yoho will be next. he will talk about human trafficking, among other issues. we will be right back. ♪ >> the issues that i'm interested in our border control. i think we have too many illegal aliens and too many problems in this country right now. i'm here supporting governor chris christie. >> we are very proud of his efforts. we are glad he recognizes these efforts and come up with a better solution. including nuclear, and non-carbon resources. >> one of the things that i saw throughout this entire timeline is tha

that change exposed thousands of flint residents to high levels of lead. now here in the corridor, some churches are collecting clean drinking water for flint. cbs 2 news reporter steffi lee is here to explain how they got the idea and what you can do to help. pastor damien miguel epps with mount zion missionary baptist church says it started with a phone call. call.a pastor from indiana contacted pastor epps about getting midwest churches to help flint with their water crisis.pastor epps says he knows all too well what it's like to need extra support - he started working in cedar rapids right when the floods of 2008 hit.he says churches in cedar rapids, davenport, and des moines are collecting staff say so far - mount zion collected seventeen thousand bottles and want to hit the one hundred thousand mark before they drive to flint.